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Monday, May 27, 2013

African Union at 50 – will the dream of unity ever be realised?

Africa
has come a long way since the formation of what became the AU, but even
more needs to be done. Solomon Dersso suggests a path to unification –
in word and in deed

Julius Nyerere, left,
described Kwame Nkrumah, the inspiration for the AU, as 'the great
crusader of African unity' Photograph: Adil Bradlow/AP

In his famous speech, in which he made the case for the
formation of a strong union of the continent, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana,
described as "the great crusader of African unity" by Mualimu Julius
Nyerere, told his peers on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa that "unite we
must. Without necessarily sacrificing our sovereignties, big or small,
we can here and now forge a political union based on defence, foreign
affairs and diplomacy, and a common citizenship, an African currency, an
African monetary zone and an African central bank."
He went on:
"We must unite in order to achieve the full liberation of our continent.
We need a common defence system with African high command to ensure the
stability and security of Africa
… We will be mocking the hopes of our people if we show the slightest
hesitation or delay in tackling realistically this question of African
unity."
Fifty years on, the unification of Africa remains beyond
the horizon. While it has come a long way since the hey days of
independence from colonial rule and the formation of the Organization of
African Unity, the progress that the continent has made towards
"tackling realistically this question of African unity", as Nkrumah put
it, leaves a lot to be desired.
As the AU and member states mark
the 50th anniversary of the founding of the OAU under the theme
Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance, it is imperative that we heed
the counsel of former South African president Thabo Mbeki – that in the
context of the 50th anniversary of the OAU: "We must answer some
questions honestly: what progress have we made towards the achievement
of the objectives set by the OAU, African Union and New African Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad)? What shall we do in this regard?"
In
his book, The Wretched of the Earth, published in 1961 at the height of
the triumphant years of the liberation of the countries of the
continent from colonial rule, the great revolutionary and thinker Frantz
Fanon observed about the raging political rhetoric of African unity:
"We
may understand why keen-witted international observers have hardly
taken seriously the great flights of oratory about African unity, for it
is true that there are so many cracks in that unity visible to the
naked eye that it is only reasonable to insist that all these
contradictions ought to be resolved before the day of unity can come."
The
transformation of the OAU to the AU is indeed a major development in
the evolution towards achieving the ideals of pan-Africanism.
Compared
to the OAU years, Africa indubitably registered some commendable
progress under the AU. This is particularly true with regard to peace
and security as well as economic growth and in countries' economic
performance. A number of countries that went through a violent conflict
in the 1990s, including Rwanda, Liberia and Sierra Leone, have made
remarkable progress.
Although the focus of much of the news
headlines remain on conflicts and violence, an increasing number of
countries have enjoyed stability during the past decade, even in parts
of the continent that are generally regarded as being conflict prone. By
any standard of measurement, these are very promising achievements.
However, the promises unfulfilled are far more than those realised and the cohesion and leadership
of the founding years of the OAU is now fading. Africa exhibits
frightening levels of disunity in various spheres. There are two major
factors that account for this: weak ideological and political foundation
of African unity and the lack of the key factors of economic
integration on the continent.
'This question of African unity' has
encountered betrayals, failures of catastrophic consequences, missed
opportunities and currently under the AU a situation that appears to be a
false dawn.
There is a need for re-articulating and reaffirming
the commitment for African unity at all levels and more so at the level
of the political leadership.
In order to avoid the AU becoming a
false dawn for the continent, it is imperative that the emerging trend
in the management of the affairs of the continent should be reversed.
The major challenges to be overcome include:
• the deficit in the ideological conviction of the political classes of the countries of the continent
• the lack of sustainable political commitment
• the current dearth of political leadership on the continent particularly on the part of major countries of the continent, and
• the poor supply of the key factors of economic integration
To
this end, the AU should mobilise its member states and take the
necessary steps to overcome these challenges. The steps to be taken
include reinvigorating the ideological conviction for the unification
process, not only among the political leadership of the continent but
also within the wider public, through a rigorous articulation of African
unity as a path for development and transformation.
Creating
societal wide awareness of and constituency for African unity and to
this end changing the framework of African unity from "we the heads of
state and government" to "we the peoples of Africa".
Various
policies adopted at the level of the AU not to be incorporated into
domestic frameworks and practices through incentives and alliances with
grass root actors.
The emergence of a coalition of countries with
dedicated political leadership and commitment for pursuing the dream of
African unity has to be encouraged.
Prioritising the speedy
development of key factors of economic integration – more particularly
the communication, transport aand regulatory infrastructure for free
movement of peoples, goods and services and the diversification of the
structure of African economies.
A realistic and incentivised
roadmap and strategy with benchmarks and realistic timelines must be
created, as well as follow-up mechanisms for economic integration.
A
process needs to be started for rationalising and aligning the role and
activities of member stateswithin the framework of the AU.Solomon A Dersso is a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He tweets as @SolomonADersso This is an abridged version of Solomon's essay 'This question of African unity - 50 years after the founding of the OAU.' Click here to read the full version.This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To get more articles like this direct to your inbox, sign up free to become a member of the Global Development Professionals Network